<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Lost Shape Shifter by theSparrowPrince</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22399129">The Lost Shape Shifter</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theSparrowPrince/pseuds/theSparrowPrince'>theSparrowPrince</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witch Boy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Twins, Witchcraft, Witches</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 10:02:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,312</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22399129</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theSparrowPrince/pseuds/theSparrowPrince</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aster finds out a family secret. He had a twin. As he tries to process it he just wishes there was a way to see the brother he lost.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Lost Shape Shifter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So I just read the Witch Boy Series and I'm sad to see there's no fanfiction. I hope there's not a reason why because I'm doing it because I love it so much. So hopefully someone who likes it will find this fic and appreciate it. Sorry if it sucks, please be nice. I don't know why the formatting is weird. It's not letting me indent. I haven't posted a lot on this website.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aster and Sedge got stuck cleaning out the attic. Sedge grumbled about having homework. Aster wanted to practise his witchery. But they couldn’t because Aunt Vervain gave them this chore. The attic was getting cluttered she had said. It was spring, the time to clean all negative thoughts away. It was when they did a deep clean of the house. Aster had never had to clear the attic before. It wasn’t too hard, just bring things down stairs and anything that might look important save for someone to look at. Aunt Vervain was going to teach him how to cleanse the attic after he cleaned it. The important thing she said was to focus his intention while cleaning, the intention being to rid negative energy.</p><p>Really he knew you had to burn sage to cleanse the room but he wasn’t supposed to already know that. He had seen them do it before though. There was an extra spell for protection they said, strengthening the standing stones on the edge of their property.</p><p>He wasn’t supposed to have listened every year but he did. Now he was allowed to learn witchery. He was excited to learn every are he could.</p><p>“Ack!” Yelled Sedge, “Spiderweb.”</p><p>“It sure is dusty up here,” remarked Aster.</p><p>He picked up a box but it broke through, pictures spilling everywhere.</p><p>“Oh rats!” He dropped the box and tried to form the pictures in an orderly pile but he stopped.</p><p>He saw a photo of his Mom holding two identical babies. He flipped it around and on the back it said, Aster and Amaranth. He stared at the photograph. He didn’t know who that was. Did he have a twin?</p><p>“Sedge come look at this.”</p><p>Sedge came over and looked at the photo. He flipped it around and read the scrawl.</p><p>“Aster! Isn’t there an Amaranth in the graveyard?”</p><p>“There is but there’s no date or anything. Grandma said he was an old family relative.”</p><p>“I don’t think that’s true. I think… I think you had a twin,” said Sedge.</p><p>“But why wouldn’t my Mom or Dad tell me?” asked Aster.</p><p>“I don’t know, maybe you should ask them,” suggested Sedge.</p><p>“Yeah,” said Aster. He took the photo and headed downstairs, Sedge followed. He found his Mom cleaning the kitchen.</p><p>He sucked in a breath, “Mom, I found this photo.”</p><p>“Let me see,” she said.</p><p>She took the picture and paled.</p><p>“Who’s Amaranth?” asked Aster.</p><p>His Mom grabbed the edge of the counter to steady herself.</p><p>“Mom?” asked Aster.</p><p>“Iris!” Called his Mom, Holly.</p><p>Iris walked in the kitchen, she saw Holly and rushed over, “Holly?”</p><p>Holly handed her the photo. Iris set the photo down and helped Holly to the table.</p><p>“Here we go,” she said.</p><p>“Aunt Iris, what’s going on?” asked Aster.</p><p>“Sit down Aster,” she commanded. She sat down as well and held Holly’s hand. “Do you want to tell him?”</p><p>Holly shook her head.</p><p>“OK,” said Iris. She turned to look at Aster. “Aster-”</p><p>“Wait,” interrupted Holly. She turned her tearful eye on Aster and reached out to grab his hand. “The day of your birth, I had two beautiful baby boys, you and… Amaranth.” She sobbed out his name.</p><p>“What happened?” asked Aster.</p><p>“He… he died. Just a few months old. I couldn’t save him. Why couldn’t I save him?” cried Holly.</p><p>Iris rubbed her hand and hugged her. “It’s alright Holly.”</p><p>“How did he die?”</p><p>“He just got sick,” explained Iris. “Nothing we did could stop it. It wasn’t your fault Holly.”</p><p>Holly nodded.</p><p>“Why didn’t you tell me Mom?”</p><p>“It was just too painful to talk about. We said we’d tell you when you were older and then you got older and I just… I just couldn’t,” cried Holly.</p><p>“Does Juniper know?” asked Aster.</p><p>Holly shook her head.</p><p>Aster shook his head, “I just… I… I had a twin.”</p><p>Sedge, who hung in the doorway stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder.</p><p>“I need to think,” Aster stood and hurried out of the room. He turned the corner and clung to the wall. He took a breath. He heard footsteps and retreated into the classroom. He paced around the room. He began scanning the wall for a book. He was looking for one on death. Maybe there was a way he could see his brother. He searched frantically for it. As he pulled out a book he found a latch. He pulled out the other books and undid the latch. A book was hidden inside a compartment. He opened it and found a word hastily scrawled underneath a title. It read, seeing the dead.He sunk to the floor. He concentrated and said the word but nothing happened. He put the book back then sat down again. He stayed there for an hour until Juniper found him. She looked like she had been crying.</p><p>“Hey Aster,” she said. She sat down next to him on the floor.</p><p>“She told you?” He asked.</p><p>“Well, Aunt Iris did. Mom was too upset to talk. She feels really bad.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“I’m so sorry Aster,” She grabbed Aster’s hand.</p><p>They stayed like that for a while until Holly found them.</p><p>“I’m sorry Aster,” she said.</p><p>“I know, it’s OK Mom. I know why you didn’t say anything.”</p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s just sometimes I feel like there’s someone else who looks exactly like me out there.”</p><p>“Oh Aster,” She sat down. He leaned his head on her shoulder and she leaned her head on his. “I am sorry but I didn’t do it to hurt you. I love you.”</p><p>“I know Mom, I love you too. I’m just going to go for a walk if that’s OK.”</p><p>“OK, sure sweetheart, just be safe.”</p><p>“I will,” Aster left the room. He took off at a run through the woods, past the stones and into town. He found Charlie shooting hoops.</p><p>“Hey Aster!” She called.</p><p>“Hey Charlie.”</p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>“No. I just found out that I had a twin who died when he was a baby.”</p><p>“Really? I’m sorry Aster, that’s rough. I can’t believe your parents never told you,” said Charlie.</p><p>“Me neither,” agreed Aster.</p><p>“When I’m feeling bad I always binge on ice cream. Come on.”</p><p>They went to Charlie’s house and watched reality TV and ate ice cream. When it was getting dark, Aster headed home. That night he sunk into his bed. He tossed and turned. When he fell asleep he dreamt of himself looking in the mirror. He waved at his reflection. His reflection waved back then stepped out of the mirror. He turned in his sleep. Sedge woke from his bed across from Aster’s. He watched Aster turn over. He heard him muttering a word he didn’t understand. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw something in the mirror. He went over and shook Aster awake.</p><p>“Bad dream?” He asked.</p><p>“I don’t know,” said Aster. He looked at the mirror. He saw himself in the mirror. The reflection waved at him then stepped out of the mirror. Sedge’s jaw dropped and Aster ran forward and hugged the boy who looked like him. Sedge called for his Mom and his Aunt Holly. They came running in. Holly fell to the floor. The boy pulled apart from his look alike and walked over to Holly. He knelt down and touched her cheek.</p><p>“Hey Mom.”</p><p>She kissed him and brought him into a hug sobbing. Vervain, Sedge’s Mom, called her siblings. Everyone ran in and stared. Aster looked at his Mom and his brother. He always thought there was something missing. Whenever he stood still for a while, he would look over to his side like he expected someone to be there but there never was. This time when Aster looked to his side Amaranth was there.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>